Two new medical cannabis dispensaries received licenses to operate from the state this week, the Mississippi Department of Revenue reported on Wednesday.

Star Buds Oxford and AES Enterprises Incorporated each received licenses to operate in Lafayette County, bringing the total number of licensed dispensaries in the county to six.

CannaMiss, LLC; Southern Crop Wellness IV, LLC; Hybrid, LLC; and Magnolia Medical Cannabis Company, LLC received licenses to operate dispensaries in August. 

All six entities are licensed as medical cannabis dispensaries and located in Oxford.

Dispensaries will dispense medical cannabis and sell supplies for the use of the product. They will also be required to provide educational materials to registered card holders.

The Department of Revenue began licensing dispensaries back in June, and has already issued licenses to over 100 businesses across the state.

Oxford businessman Tony Barragan was among the first to receive a license to begin a medical cannabis business in Lafayette County.

Barragan, the founder of Hempville CBD, created Hybrid Relief North Mississippi which will operate at 1801 Jackson Avenue W, Suite D 112. 

Since the days of Initiative 65, a citizen-supported ballot that almost secured medical cannabis for Mississippi in 2020, Barragan has been a staunch supporter of CBD and medical cannabis and their healing properties. 

The only difference between CBD that is currently sold in stores locally and medical cannabis is the THC content, stated Barragan. THC is the substance that’s primarily responsible for the psychoactive effects of marijuana on a person’s mental state.

CBD can be extracted from cannabis and has no THC content in it at all, which made it legal to use in Mississippi prior to the medical cannabis legislation.

With Mississippi’s Medical Cannabis legislation in effect, it is legal for medical cannabis or products containing it to contain THC but only below 0.3%, which provides none of the psychoactive effects typically related to marijuana.

Medical cannabis will be used to treat patients with serious medical conditions such as cancer, AIDS and sickle cell disease. Patients with terminal or debilitating diseases or medical conditions that produce cachexia, chronic pain, seizures, severe or intractable nausea or severe and persistent muscle spasms can also qualify for the program.

For a full list of qualifying conditions, visit the Mississippi State Department of Health’s Medical Cannabis page at msdh.ms.gov/msdhsite/_static/30,0,425.html.

Dispensaries will not open for business until cultivators have had enough time to meet supply demands however.